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A real life sea serpent was discovered at Catalina Island last weekend, as 26-year-old science instructor Jasmine Santana brought to shore an 18-foot oarfish at the Catalina Island Marine Institute.

The long, snake-like fish usually resides in deep oceans, but Santana happened upon it in less than 15 feet of water at Toyon Bay, about 2 miles west of the island's main town of Avalon.

1860: The first oarfish is discovered washed ashore on a Bermuda beach. It was originally described as a sea serpent.1901: An alleged 21-foot "giant sea serpent" washes ashore at Newport Beach, ending up as the first recorded sighting of an oarfish off California.

1996: A 23-foot oarfish is found on San Diego's shore by Navy SEALs. But in
Southeast Asia, locals believe the photo of the Navy men holding the massive fish purportedly originated from the Vietnam War era and is actually United States servicemen holding the mythic "Naga," Thailand's version of Scotland's Loch Ness monster. The photo was originally published in the April 1997 issue of All Hands, a Navy-owned publication.

2008: While the oarfish has rarely been filmed alive, recent videos captured by remotely operated vehicles conducting seafloor surveys off Mexico recorded five observations of apparently healthy oarfish between 2008 and 2011. The study was published earlier this summer in the Journal of Fish Biology.

“I was out snorkeling, and I saw it just west of the pier on the sea floor,” Santana said. “I didn't have a camera, and I thought to myself, if I just tell everyone I saw this huge thing, they probably won't believe me.”

So, she dove down to inspect the creature and, after making sure it was dead – and checking to make sure nothing else even bigger was around that might have killed it – Santana began pulling the fish by its tail to shore.

“It was so heavy, there was no way I was lifting that thing out of the water,” she said. “It felt like I was in life-saving training for lifeguards.”

Once she got the oarfish to shallow water, other instructors ran toward the find in disbelief, helping her pull in the estimated 200-pound creature.

Fellow instructor Michelle Sakai-Hart was offloading gear from the institute's tallship Tole Mour at the pier when she saw Santana in the water, struggling with the oarfish.
“I had heard of an oarfish, and had seen footage of a baby one, but nothing like this,” Sakai-Hart said. In total, it took 15 adults to get the silvery, slimy fish onto shore.

Oarfish, which are rarely seen, live most of their lives at depths between 700 and 3,000 feet. While capable of growing to 50 feet in length, little is known of the fish's behavior, as sightings of the animal alive are rare. Recent video of the creature alive and well was published in the Journal of Fish Biology this summer, as remotely operated vehicles surveying oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico incidentally captured video of the fish swimming in its natural state.

“By sheer luck, we encountered five oarfish while conducting surveys down there,” said Mark Benfield, professor at Louisiana State University's Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences.

What caught Benfield's eye was the animal's movement in water.
“Normally, they just move by this curious undulation of the dorsal fin, but when it wants to pick up the pace, it can serpentine quickly through the water,” Benfield said.

Jeff Chace, program director at Catalina Island Marine Institute, is hopeful the finding will unveil more about the mysterious creature and has sent tissue samples to fish expert Milton Love at UC Santa Barbara.

After keeping the fish on ice since bringing it ashore Sunday afternoon, the group is planning to bury the oarfish on site, let it decompose, and then unearth the skeleton a few months later to put on display.

“The kids that got to see this were just blown away,” Chace said. “We teach marine science to kids here all year long, so this is a great place to keep it.”